


stars in slow motion

by tardigradeschool



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Implied attempted assault, mild blood i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-11 18:05:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11719668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tardigradeschool/pseuds/tardigradeschool
Summary: This thing between them is new enough that sometimes Barry just doesn’t know what to do with himself; he’s spent more of his life now being in love with her than not, but actually being together is a whole new beast. Even when they were just flirting (or, really, Lup flirting and Barry trying not to die), Barry rarely let himself wonder what would happen if she were actually interested – and now, having the ability to, if he wants, reach out and kiss her, well. It’s a lot.





	stars in slow motion

**Author's Note:**

> the title is from "you and i" by johnnyswim which is suuuuuper cheesy but also very barry & lup

It’s the forty-ninth cycle, and they’re on a world not too different from their own. These people are less technologically advanced, and due to some great war a couple decades ago, there’s a general air of suspicion that seems to exist everywhere they visit. Still, they find the Light only four months in, and dammit, they’re going to celebrate whether the people who live here like it or not.

More accurately: Taako, Lup, Barry, and Magnus are going to celebrate. Davenport, despite their early victory, is in one of his more depressive states, and Lucretia and Merle have decided to do some sort of nature walk; Lucretia wants to go somewhere peaceful and Merle wants to examine the flora (AKA, Taako says, lie in the dirt for an hour and make kissy noises at plants).

Magnus picks the bar, which in Barry’s opinion is not necessarily a glowing recommendation. Barry loves the guy, he really does, but he can only watch him start so many gleeful bar fights before it starts feeling like part of it is his own fault for not staging some kind of intervention.

“Don’t worry, babe,” Lup tells him. She’s getting dressed up, but she leans over to kiss him on the cheek. “We can always leave early if you’re not into it. When you’ve already got the hottest piece in the bar, what’s the point in staying?”

“You do look great,” Barry tells her, and she crinkles her eyes at him and says, “I was talking about you.”

Barry flushes. Lup laughs. This thing between them is new enough that sometimes Barry just doesn’t know what to do with himself; he’s spent more of his life now being in love with her than not, but actually being together is a whole new beast. Even when they were just flirting (or, really, Lup flirting and Barry trying not to die), Barry rarely let himself wonder what would happen if she were actually interested – and now, having the ability to, if he wants, reach out and kiss her, well. It’s a lot.

Barry reaches out and tugs her over to where he’s sitting. She blinks at him. “Hey, sweetie,” she says, like they haven’t been in the same room for a couple hours. “What’s up?”

“I love you,” Barry says, “is what’s up.”

“I love you too,” she says, easy and light. “So much. You ready?”

With you? Barry thinks. For anything. But he does have a limit, so he just says, “Yup.”

 

Taako is even more done up than Lup is; when he sees them he does a little twirl to show off. Lup claps using the back of Barry’s hand so she won’t have to let go. Magnus looks only the tiniest bit shifty when Lup reminds him that if he gets thrown out none of them are going to walk back with him.

“I hate being the responsible one,” Lup murmurs in Barry’s ear as they set off. “But Taako’s a little all over the place when he’s drunk and Magnus looks like he might be in a dancing mood. Ready to do some babysitting?”

“It’s good practice,” Barry says, without thinking, then freezes. “Wait, sorry – that’s a totally unfair thing to spring on you before our fun night out, please forget I said that.”

“No,” Lup says. He can’t quite identify her tone of voice. “I mean, uh.” She glances down, then looks at him; there’s something in her gaze he didn’t expect to see. Fondness, maybe? “Maybe tonight isn’t, you know, the best time to have this conversation, but...” She’s smiling at him now, almost hesitant in a way he hasn’t seen before. “Obviously we couldn’t, with everything with the Hunger-”

“Obviously,” Barry echoes. The surge of mild panic he’d had before is giving way to something cautious but tender, accompanied by a rush of almost overwhelming warmth. Gods, what did he do before he allowed himself to feel like this? How is he going to live feeling this all the time?

“But, uh, after? If there is an after?” Lup ducks her head. “I mean, I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it. A little. But I mean, before you, it hadn’t – I never thought that was something – I never thought I would have the kind of life that would let me - or a person that I would want to -” She takes a breath and says in a rush, “have a kid with, so.”

“So,” Barry echoes. Something has opened up inside him, some extra chamber in his heart he didn’t know he had. He’s barely holding back a grin, and he thinks Lup is too. They’re hardly walking anymore, having basically stopped on the side of the road, holding hands and looking at each other.

We’re ridiculous, Barry thinks, and Lup seems to have the same thought, huffing out what might be a laugh.

“Hey lovebirds,” Taako yells from about thirty feet ahead of them, “Hurry up!”

“Yeah, c’mon, slowpokes!” Magnus says. He’s hoisted Taako up onto his shoulders. “We don’t have all night!” Taako conjures a giant hand from nothing and makes it flip them off, which makes Magnus laugh hard enough that Taako is forced to grab his forehead to keep from falling off.

“We should,” Lup says, and Barry says, “Oh, yeah,” and they start walking again, hand in hand.

Barry isn’t sure how he lived before he got to be this near to her.

 

Barry’s never been much for bars, but Lup seems perfectly content to nurse a cocktail and sit down with him, which means this is already his best bar experience ever, even though this place is, as Barry suspected, sketchy as hell. Still, Magnus is enjoying himself, and Taako seems even more in his element, bangles jangling dramatically as he tells a story animatedly to Magnus and some other guy at the bar.

“Lup?” Barry says. She looks over. Even in the dim light, she’s stunning. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but when you say you never thought about – uh, before?” It still feels like too much to say it, so the sentence sounds nonsensical. Luckily after this many decades together, pretty much everyone on the IPRE crew can read each other better than anyone they ever could before.

“Right,” Lup says. “I guess… well, the way Taako and I grew up, you know-” Barry nods; they had talked about it even before they got together. “Yeah, so I guess I just assumed that stability was never going to be an option for me. I mean, Taako and I would joke about marrying rich and solving all our problems, but I never thought I actually would be in a relationship where I trusted the person enough to, you know, make a new person with them.”

“I’m not rich,” Barry says, because the other options require thinking about the ways in which Lup’s been hurt over the years.

Lup smiles at him. “I know,” she says. “And god knows this situation isn’t stable, but Barry...” She reaches for his hand. “If we defeat the Hunger -  _ when _ we defeat the Hunger, you make me feel like that’s possible. Like it’s inevitable. In a good way. And Barry, you’re so… kind. And patient. I could never be that patient. And I just – I trust you, in a way I never have anyone, except Taako, ever.”

“Lup,” he says. “You know I feel the same way.”

“Yeah,” she says, like it’s something amazing. “I do.” They sit there for a moment, just looking at each other, and then Lup sighs. “I mean, this is all-”

“Yeah,” Barry says.

“And, I mean, I have no idea if I would turn out to be a terrible mother, or-”

“What?” Barry says, “Of course you wouldn’t-” But he stops. Lup has gone very still, looking over the bar.

“Barry,” she says, in an entirely different tone. “Where’s Taako?”

Barry turns. Magnus is there, instantly noticeable in his red jacket, but, as Barry scans the whole room, there is no sign of Taako. Before he can turn back to Lup, she’s out of her seat, moving towards Magnus. Barry follows her on instinct.

“Magnus,” she says, yanking at his sleeve to get his attention. “Where’s Taako?”

Magnus sweeps his sweaty hair off his forehead. “He left with some guy,” he says. “About ten minutes ago.”

“Was he drunk?” Lup demands, and Magnus shakes his head.

“No,” he says, “I was with him the whole time, he had maybe one and a half drinks? He wasn’t even tipsy, Lup, I promise.”

Lup still looks tense. Something sparkly in Barry’s periphery catches his eye; when he turns, Taako is moving in through a side entrance. He nudges Lup, but when she turns she goes stiff.

There is a moment, maybe a couple seconds, where Barry doesn’t understand her alarm; Taako’s back, in one piece – and then he realizes that something is wrong. The way Taako’s moving isn’t quite right, and it takes him a moment to see in the low light that Taako is paler than he should be.

Lup pushes past him and grabs Taako by the shoulders. “What happened? Are you okay?”

“Lup, he didn’t – I’m fine.” Taako says, leaning backwards. “Everyone is okay, except for the asshole lying hexed in the alleyway outside.” Lup pulls him closer, maybe to examine him more, and Taako blanches and makes a small noise of pain.

“Taako!” she says. If Barry didn’t know her well enough to hear the fear in her voice, he’d think she was just angry.

“And I also… might be,” Taako says reluctantly, “a tiny bit stabbed.”

A lot happens at once: Lup grabs her brother and starts trying to look him over and Barry is forced to drag Magnus’s jacket back with his whole body to stop its wearer from running outside.

“I’m gonna fucking kill him,” Magnus says and Barry says, “Magnus, I don’t think he’s going anywhere, we need to get Taako back to the Starblaster,” and Magnus says, “Oh, right, fuck,” and then he picks Taako up in a decidedly less playful way than he had earlier.

Lup turns to face Barry. “You go with them,” she says grimly and Barry doesn’t argue.

 

“Merle’s not here,” Magnus says as they approach the Starblaster.

“Doesn’t matter,” Taako says, “because he’s never cast a healing spell in his life.” He laughs at his own joke; no one else does.

“We’ve got healing potions in the cabinet,” Barry says. “Nothing strong, but it should be enough until Merle gets back tomorrow, or at least knock you out.”

“Sweet,” Taako says. He seems almost wholly unconcerned with his own state, even though Magnus has had to wipe Taako’s blood on his pants to keep a good grip twice now.

When they get up the stairs and inside, Davenport is at the table, reading something over tea. “You guys are back early-” he begins, then stands up in alarm. “What the fuck?”

“Taako got stabbed,” Barry says. “Can you get the-” Davenport has already disappeared down a hallway. Magnus shoves everything off the table and sets Taako down.

“Jeezy creezy,” Taako says. “The counter’s clear, dude, you didn’t have to do that.”

“I know,” Magnus says. “I thought it would look cool.”

Davenport comes back with a handful of bottles. “Thanks, bossman,” Taako says, picking one at random and downing it. He makes a face and sets it down. “Maybe when Merle gets back we can talk to him about potion flavoring?”

“Maybe we should talk about you being more careful,” Davenport says. “There are eight months left, Taako, what if you-”

“Okay,” Taako says, “Contrary to what everyone seems to think, I did not intend for this to happen! I went out to have a good time and honestly I’m feeling so attacked right now.”

“Taako,  _ sit still _ ,” Barry snaps, surprised by his own fervor. Taako seems a little startled too; he’s quiet for a second and Barry presses another potion into his hands. Taako drinks it without comment.

 

A half hour passes before Lup comes in. She looks exactly the same, but there’s something flinty in her eyes. “He awake?” she asks. 

“Not really,” Barry says. “Sort of dozing. He’ll probably be out of it until Merle comes back and can do some actual healing, but he’s not in danger.”

Lup loses a little of her rigidity then, slumping her forehead against Barry’s shoulder. Barry’s arms come up automatically. “Thanks,” she says, muffled by his shirt.

“Of course,” Barry says. He doesn’t ask what she was doing; he doesn’t think he wants to know, but he thinks he does maybe understand. 

Lup detaches herself from him and absentmindedly takes his hand as she makes her way down the hallway to the room Taako and Merle share. Barry lets himself be pulled. 

Taako blinks at them when she opens the door, dazed but more present than Barry thought he would be. “Hey, dumbass,” Lup says, sitting down on the bed. Barry sits down behind her.

“Hey, asshole,” Taako parrots back. “Have you been giving Barold bullying lessons? He was very unkind to me.”

“Good,” Lup says. “Because sometimes when I’m off saving the world I need a special agent to look after my dumb brother for me.”

“Just to reiterate, not my fault,” Taako says. He looks like he’s fading a little. Barry’s never seen him like this - anything less than shiny and sharp. 

“Nah, you’re right,” Lup agrees. She tugs on the end of his hair. “You gonna fall asleep?”

Taako makes a face at her, half-heartedly, but he lets his eyes close anyway. 

 

Barry waits until they’re a couple doors down the hallway before he says, carefully, “Can I just say, for the record? I don’t think there’s any chance in the world you could be a terrible mother.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Lup says, pulling him in again so she can rest against him, but he can feel her smiling against his collarbone. 

_ What did I do before this? _ he marvels.

“I’m so lucky,” Lup says softly, the words warm against his skin. 

“Sap,” he says aloud, faux-accusatorily, and Lup snorts and leans in closer. 


End file.
